The good news is that the man behind them, Jeff Essmann the candidate for State Senator from Billings, is probably going to try to become the next senate leader. Democrats couldn’t ask for anything more. He appears to have very little political savvy. When his RLCC mailers crossed the line and prompted a fellow Republican senator to resign from the committee, Essmann made a bizarre decision to replace him with a guy who fled the state two years ago in the wake of a GOP scandal that could, had the Democrats pursued it, have resulted in state and federal charges. It is sickening. ~sniffle~ Then, when questioned about this dubious choice, Essmann refused to comment on it and instead got into a verbal rally with a reporter, making the story worse.

But beyond his questionable skills, he’s a far-right and angry-at-Schweitzer kind of guy. Every time a hot-headed, rabid right-winger like Essmann makes into leadership, the Governor and the Dems end up making a deal with a moderate faction of Rs at the end of the session, and the right wingers head home bruised, failed and looking stupid, and of course twice as angry as they were when they came to town. Sales, Brown, Lange, Keenan. The list goes on.